Dr Suess's: The Lorax 2
by Nicole97
Summary: After the previous mayor, Mr. Ohare, is exiled, someone must take his place. Ted is left to choose someone, because he is much too young, to be the next mayor so he picks the Once-ler. But who would ever re-elect him? So, after he was turned back to the youthful age of nineteen, the Once-ler changes his identity to fill in his old seat. But, however, not everything goes as planned.
1. Chapter 1

The Once-ler stepped out of his house and sighed. The air smelled as fresh as it did before he had destroyed the valley. He walked over to one of the tree sproutlings and watered it. This time, he would care for the forest instead of using their fluff for thneeds. He turned around and shielded his eyes from the sun as a bird flew overhead. The Once-ler smiled as it flew by. He then became aware of something else approaching him. He turned again, and to his amaze, it was the Lorax descending from the sky. He landed perched on the "unless" stone.

"You done good beanpole. You done good."

Overjoyed, the Once-ler laughed and embraced his old friend. After separating the Lorax pointed to the Once-ler's face.

"By the way, nice mustache."

The Once-ler smiled. "I broke my razor a few years ago." He stopped smiling and sighed "I wish I had gone and done something about the trees before now. I'm old, and won't be around to see the forest grow back to its original beauty."

The Lorax chuckled. "But don't you remember, I have powers."

Once-ler smiled weakly. "Yeah, but unfortunately, it doesn't work that way."

The Lorax looked at him seriously. "Well, you helped re-new my forest, and you have now learned your lesson. So why couldn't I do something?"

Once-ler sat on his porch step. "Yeah, but-"

He noticed a change in his voice. He pulled off one of his gloves and looked at his hand. Instead of usual wrinkly old man hands, he had the skin of a young man. He stood up and noticed that he didn't slouch. He ran inside to look in the mirror and the Lorax followed, pleased with himself. Once-ler gasped at his reflection. "Wow! Speaking of re-new!" He turned to face the Lorax. "This is amazing! I feel great!" He ran down the hallway like a kid and to his bedroom. He found his old jeans and top from before he became greedy and put them on, as well as switching the formal hat with the other one. His doorbell rang and he heard ted's voice.

"Audrey! Look out!" The sound of the claw drew near to the window and the Once-ler turned around to see Ted being held up by his shirt in front of the window.

"Hey!" The Once-ler said waving.

Ted was confused and quite scared. "Who are you?"

The Once-ler slapped his hand to his face. "Right." He laughed and held up a picture of himself when he was the mayor of Thneedville in his green suit and big top hat in one hand, and the big hat in the other. "Its still me. The Once-ler."

Ted's face grew white. "How- How did you?"

The Lorax appeared in the doorway. "Oh! Is this the boy who planted the seed."

Meanwhile, Audrey, who was outside, began yelling. "Ted!"

The Once-ler laughed nervously. "Hold on." He pressed a lever that brought Ted inside and then made it grab Audrey. Of coarse, she approached the window screaming. Ted ran over to her and told her to calm down as the claw dropped her onto the floor.

"Way to make a first impression." The Lorax said sarcastically. Audrey ran over to Ted and looked at the Once-ler. "Who are you?"

The Once-ler sighed. "For the sixtieth time, I am the Once-ler."

Audrey looked puzzled. "How? The Once-ler was in his twenties fifty years ago."

The Lorax jumped up on top of the bed and waved his arms around. "Hello! No one noticed the magical talking fuzzy guy?"

Ted's eyes widened and he finally understood. "Oh! That's the Lorax! Wow!" Ted had told Audrey about him too, so no one needed to introduce him to her.

The Once-ler invited them downstairs for some Sandwiches and lemonade, which he whipped up pretty quickly, and they sat in a table for four. The Once-ler came into the dining room with a plate of sandwiches in one hand.

"Sorry about the simplicity, but it was the only thing I had. And marshmallows, but that's not a real meal." He set the plate on the table and the three guests grabbed them eagerly. The Once-ler chuckled. "Do you guys get fed back at home?"

As they ate, the kids told the Once-ler about how the town was after he had exiled himself. The Once-ler found it hilarious when the mentioned the bottled air.

"So, how is that suppose to work? You might only have a few breaths of air before it runs out! Why did he think that anyone would buy that stuff?"

Ted laughed. "I have no idea, but people are much happier with the fact that the trees will make free air." Then a serious expression grew over his face. "Speaking of the politics, now that our mayor is gone, we need a new one, and people wanted me there, but I'm only twelve."

He paused. "And they said I could pick someone who would lead the town the best, and that's why I came over here."

The Once-ler stared at him blankly. After a few moments of silence, he spoke up. "No. No, no, no, no. Uh-uh. There is no way those people would accept me again! I mean, what am I suppose to say? 'Hey, I'm the Once-ler. You know, that guy that killed all these trees to make Thneeds'? Do you think I would get much supporters?"

Ted sighed. "You have a point."

Then, Audrey spoke up. "Well, what if we changed your identity?"

The Once-ler gave her a look. "Do what?"

"Change your identity." She repeated. "You know, change your name, your birthdate and stuff."

She turned her attention to the Lorax who was busily stuffing himself with sandwiches. "How old did you make him?" She asked.

With a mouthful, the Lorax replied, "I made him nineteen years old. The age he was when we met."

The Once-ler's eyes widened and he paused in mid chew. He swallowed. "Nineteen? He repeated in disbelief. I'm nineteen?"

The Lorax rolled his eyes. "Well, duh, what else do you think I said?"

"Ok." Ted inturupted. "So will you do it? Or not?"

The Once-ler thought for a second and then nodded. "I will."

After Ted and Audrey left, the Lorax and the Once-ler busied themselves cleaning the table. They carried the matching blue plates and cups to the sink and had to make a few trips to get all of them.

"How many sandwiches did we eat?" asked the Lorax in a joking manner while washing the dishes. The Once-ler, who was using a small thneed as a dish towel, laughed.

"We? I think you consumed two full plates all on your own."

The Lorax smiled sheepishly. "No, actually, I ate three."

The Once-ler stared at him for a moment before he spoke again. "Seriously, am I going to go broke in a few months just by grocery expenses?"

The Lorax looked puzzled. "How in the world did you get groceries?"

The Once-ler sighed loudly. "I didn't have to, I lived off of food storage since I was only feeding one person. But that's soon going to go out, and the process would speed up if it's like I'm feeding four people for every meal!"

The Lorax raised one of his bushy eyebrows. "Don't you still have all that money? I don't remember anyone suing you. But they should have." He added the last sentence quietly.

The Once-ler sat in one of the chairs at the table and put his head in his hands. "No, I wasn't sued. My family took all of it and left me…" He paused. "They basically left me for dead."

He quickly sat up. "But that's alright, I guess. Because when they left, they threw the birth certificate out of the car window, and I found out that I was adopted." He chuckled sheepishly. Changing the subject, he added, "So, what have you been doing all these years?"

The Lorax shrugged. "I don't know. Visited this place called lake Erie, and they got a little better, and all these other places like the Amazon Rainforest. They are still cutting down that one. It was easier going against one company than going against a whole government." He groaned. "And those weren't the only two places that had problems unfortunately." He looked at the Once-ler. "And occasionally I'd check up on you, but you'd always be moping around, mostly by your window. And one time you yelled at your cereal."

The Once-ler raised one eyebrow. "When did I do that?" The Lorax chuckled at the memory. "About five years after your fall."

The Once-ler opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it, remembering the incident. "Right, yeah, I got kind of lonely and I wasn't used to it at first. I think I also beat up a broom and buried it outside."

The Lorax stared at him uncomfortably. "I'm not gonna end up getting eated or anything am I?"

The Once-ler slapped his hand to his face. "No fuzzy, your not. After I realized that someone else still cared about trees, I kind of got my head back in order."

The Lorax looked relieved, and then he jumped down from the counter top. He walked over to door.

"What are you doing?" Asked the Once-ler as he stood up from his chair.

The Lorax turned the handle. "We need to go into town, get you some modern clothes, and go to Ted's house so we can start working on your new identity."

The Once-ler looked offended. "_Modern _clothes?" He repeated. "Are you calling me old fashioned?"

Ignoring him, the Lorax stepped outside and picked up an old bike.

The Once-ler stood by the door and watched as the Lorax scrambled around, finding random objects and attaching them to the bike. The Once-ler gasped as the Lorax turned the bike into a motorcycle with a small seat in the back that you could fit a pet or a small child in. The Lorax jumped up and sat in it.

"Close your mouth beanpole, and lets go to Ted's!"

Realizing that his mouth was gaping, the Once-ler closed it and walked over to the Lorax. "That's a fine idea, but we have one problem. How are we suppose to go to his house, if we don't know where he lives?"

The Lorax chuckled. "You don't, but I do. Just drive into town and I'll tell you where to go from there."

Sure enough, once they got through the entrance of the town, the Lorax began directing like a GPS. The Once-ler felt a little uncomfortable by the people on the highway who would occasionally stare at him for a long time. The Lorax caught his eye.

"Hey, don't worry. Some of these people weren't even born before your fall."

When they drove up to Ted's house, Ted, his mom, and his granny walked outside. Ted looked confused.

"How did you-"

"It's the Once-ler!" He was cut off by his granny.

The Once-ler held his finger to his lips. "Shh! I don't need a mob of people trying to kill me!"

Granny chuckled. "Don't worry, everybody's mad at Mr. Ohare right now. They wont lay a finger on you."

The Lorax jumped out of the motorcycle and stepped forward to stand next to the Once-ler. "Ok, we are here to get this guy a new identity. Ted wants him to become the next mayor, and we all share the same concern, that no one would accept him after what he had done. So, lets break out the food, and some good name ideas and change this guy!"

He walked past the family and into the house. The Once-ler began to follow. Turning to Ted's mom, he added,

"By the way, you don't have to get any food. Honestly."

Ted's mom laughed. "But he's so cute! Could I get him just a little snack?"

The Once-ler sighed. "Alright, go ahead. But you'll regret it. Trust me."

Turns out, her idea of a 'little snack' was two huge trays of cookies. The Lorax watched how many cookies he ate as they sat around the table coming up with names.

Curious, Ted's mom asked, "So, Mr. Once-ler, how old are you now after you've been changed?"

The Once-ler looked up from the paper he was using to jot names down. "Nineteen."

Ted's mom's eyes widened and she nodded quickly. "Yeah, we should stop calling you Mr. Once-ler."

After a few names were called out and rejected, Ted read his last one.

"I'm just joking around, but Bob."

Everyone at the table laughed except the Lorax.

"Actually, how about Robert." The Once-ler thought for a moment tapping his pencil to his chin. "I do kind of like that name."

Ted's mom turned the paper over. "Ok, now the hard part. Last names!"

After about an hour of random, and some bizarre names being called out, Harrison was the one chosen and Ted and his Granny were on their way to the store to buy new clothes for 'Robert'.


	2. Chapter 2

Ted and Granny weaved through Thneedville's rush hour traffic on Ted's red, one wheeled scooter. They drove into the large parking lot of the Thneedville supermarket where groceries, clothes, household items, and entertainment were all sold. The two walked through the automatic doors and into the center of the supermarket, also the food court, and saw a poster advertising a new gardening section. Ted hadn't noticed it until Granny called it out.

"Ted! Come here! I think you'll want to see this!"

Ted turned around to see his white haired grandmother marveling at the poster on the wall. Ted approached it smiling.

"Thanks to Once-ler, this place can go back to how it was before it was destroyed."

Granny, still overflowing with excitement, ran to get a shopping bag.

"Alright boy!" She called to Ted. "To the clothes section!"

Ted covered his face in one hand to hide his embarrassment.

"Granny stop, its embarrassing."

She walked over to where Ted stood and handed the little blue shopping bag to him.

"Are we gonna shop or not?"

She walked down to the north side of the supermarket where the clothes stores lined the sides of the hallway making Ted laugh.

"What is up with girls and shopping?"

Granny turned into the Hollister store first and Ted groaned.

"Granny, Once-ler is not going to wear clothes that should be on a high school boy and reek of cologne."

They continued digging through different clothes stores trying to figure out what The Once-ler would like best. After a long time of debating on whether he likes sports clothing or formal clothing, they gave up and bought a little from each store. When they met their limit they set for themselves on the way there, they stopped at the food court to eat. Ted was already at his seat eating pizza and a chocolate shake when granny sat down with her food.

"Hopefully once we start growing food, it will taste better." She mumbled to herself.

Ted finished before her and began to gaze around the room. He caught sight of a sign on the exit door. He squinted a little and it had a picture of a blonde haired guy in a tux smiling. Beside him, it said, 'We don't need a kid's choice, vote Chandler Greenburg as your mayor. I promise that I will not let my beloved city down like the leaders before us.'

Ted tapped Granny on the shoulder.

"Granny can you read that sign?"

He pointed and she followed his finger to the poster and she rolled her eyes.

"That's what Ohare said."

Ted shrugged and began to relax a little when he caught sight of two more posters on the walls. One was for Kevin Wainright, a really skinny guy who looked to be in his 50s wearing a navy blue suit, and Stella Olson, Audrey's cousin, a 21 year old girl with auburn hair that barely touched her shoulders, was also campaigning. Ted knew Stella. She wouldn't harm the trees or pollute anything, but she thought she was the best at everything. You couldn't compliment someone else in front of her without her saying something like,

"Oh, I've done that too." Or,

"Yeah, but I probably did it better. Just saying."

She got on everybody's nerves. If she won this election, no one would be able to go five minutes without hearing her name.

Ted grabbed granny by the arm.

"Come one, we have got to get home and work on the Once-ler's people skills."

They rushed out of the supermarket, almost forgetting to pay for the clothes, and speed home. When they arrived, Ted's mom, Once-ler, and Audrey were playing board games. Literally, everyone looked bored except for Ted's mom.

When they walked in through the door, Once-ler and Audrey immediately got up from the couches.

"Oh looks guys, Ted's home. Ok, game's over!"

Ted handed Once-ler the bag.

"Put on what you want and then come back downstairs. We have to work on your new identity."

The Once-ler looked puzzled. "Why? What for?"

Ted held up the poster of Stella. "Because people are already campaigning."

The Once-ler stared at the poster for a long time until Granny poked him on the shoulder. The Once-ler immediately changed his gaze to the bag.

"Yes, right, clothes." He smiled sheepishly. "You got it."

He saluted mockingly and dashed up the stairs with the confused gazes of the family following him.

"What's his problem?" Asked Audrey. "Why is he so jumpy?"

Granny shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe he's just getting used to his sudden youth. By the way, where's the Lorax?"

Ted's mom's gaze shifted to the guest bedroom door.

"He's asleep. The poor little guy accidently drank coffee and was bouncing of the walls for hours. The poor little guy just crashed."

Ted and Audrey exchanged glances at one another and Granny walked into the kitchen.

"Speaking of coffee."

Ted's mom chased after her, accidently hitting her hip on the table.

"No mom! No coffee for you! Get back here."

The kitchen door shut behind her and a voice came from upstairs.

"Ok guys! I'm ready!"

The Once-ler descended down the stairs with new, and thankfully tasteful attire. He had on a green sweater shirt that didn't turtle neck, blue jeans, and black dress shoes. Ted was relieved.

"Ok, good. At least you didn't try on some stuff that Granny picked out."

The Once-ler, still with his previous hat on, looked at himself in the mirror that hung on the side of the living room.

"Yeah, I saw a kilt in the bag." He said with a slightly disturbed expression on his face. Ted's mom walked out of the kitchen mumbling. She caught sight of the Once-ler and smiled.

"Look at you, now you'll fit into the city!"

Granny pushed through the kitchen door with a mug in her hand. She looked at the Once-ler and then scoffed.

"Now why didn't you pick anything I picked out for you?"

The Once-ler scratched his head.

"Well, if you were the one who picked out the kilt, the shawl, and the ones that reeked of cologne, then that is because I do not want to be caught dead in town with those on."

The guestroom door opened and a rather drowsy looking Lorax stepped out of the room. His fur was stuck out everywhere from sleeping and he stretched his short arms and yawned.

"Well look at you beanpole. You clean up well."

Once-ler looked offended. "How bad were my old clothes? Seriously!"

It was 10:00 pm and Ted, Granny, and the Once-ler sat around the dining room table. They missed dinner because they were out putting up posters for 'Robert' and the Lorax ate it all. Lucky for them, the Once-ler could cook and he made a delicious meal for the three of them. It was basically spaghetti noodles with cheese, tomatoes and basil.

When Granny smelled the food, she grinned.

"What's the big occasion Once-ler?"

The Once-ler, putting a bowl in front of Ted shrugged.

"Well, I'm young again, I'm running for mayor, and the Lorax is too tired to pull pranks on me tonight, so why not have a special meal?"

As they ate, they planned for the speeches the Once-ler would give at the rally next week. They had to make sure to say that he wouldn't harm nature at all, or use smoggy factories, and that he would work on finding cleaner sources of energy without sounding too cheesy. After many failed rough drafts, and two more bowels of pasta the Once-ler put his head on the table.

"I give up. There is no way I am going to win this thing."

Ted yawned and looked at the clock. He frowned.

"Unfortunatly, it's midnight, so we should be getting to bed."

The Once-ler picked his head up to see for himself, but the paper stuck to his forehead.

"Wha-?"

He snatched it off of his face and cumbled it up before throwing it in the garbage can. He sighed when he saw that the time was indeed 12:15.

"Ok, I'll clean off the table."

He stood up and picked up his plate but Granny took it from him.

"No, you need your rest. Ted and I will clean it."

She pointed to the door next to the Lorax's bedroom.

"There is another bedroom right there that you can use. But unfourtunatly, you will have to share a joining bathroom with the Lorax."

The Once-ler groaned.

"Well, in that case I do need to catch up on my sleep while he's too tired to do anything."

He opened the door to his room and turned around.

"You should slip some coffee into his drink tomorrow!"

He winked and closed the door. Granny fanned her face.

"He's so cute!"

Ted looked taken aback.

"Excuse me?!"

Granny pointed to Ted's face and busted out laughing. She laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes.

"You really bought it!"

Ted frowned and began walking upstairs to his bedroom.

"Just go to bed Granny."


	3. Chapter 3

Stella Olson was always the popular one. She was always the Student Body President, or Homecoming Queen at High School, and had super grades. She had this mayor thing in the bag. Who else did she have to go against? Some blonde guy, an old man, and another guy who was only nineteen running. Unfortunately, the nineteen years old, Robert Harrison was Ted's "chosen one" and that would give him a head start. Stella sat at the bus stop surrounded by campaign posters and she glared at Robert's poster. She wouldn't be shown up by some guy who was barely an adult! She turned her head making her auburn hair swish when she heard the bus approaching. She stepped on board, gave the driver her ticket, and sat at one of the chairs. She dug into her purse and pulled out a Sudoku notepad and began finishing a puzzle she started that morning at the court house. Her cell phone rang and buzzed in her coat pocket and she picked it up and looked at the caller ID. It was her fiancé, Jeremy. She smiled and answered.

"Hey sweety!"

She was glad to hear from him.

"Hey, so how's the campaign going for you?"

She groaned into the phone. "Ok, get this. That Ted kid, the one that saved the town and is dating my cousin and junk, actually picked someone, who I honestly have never heard of before at the 'chosen one.'"

Jeremy sighed on the other line. "Brilliant. Who is he?"

"His name is Robert Harrison, he's nineteen-"

Jeremy cut her off. "Woah, woah, woah. Nineteen? Then why worry about him?"

Stella stared out the window. "Well, Ted picked him out and you know how everyone worships him after he planted the tree." She watched some whiz by out of her window. "Anyone could have done it."

Jeremy chuckled. "Ok, well what does this Robert guy look like?"

Stella sat back in her chair. "Well, he's tall, and has black hair. He kind of looks like that one guy, but I cant think of his name. Big fancy green coat, huge hat, he made this thing called a Thneed."

"The Once-ler?" Jeremy asked.

Stella nodded, forgetting she was on a phone. "Yeah, the Once-ler."

Jeremy laughed. "Oh my gosh, that's hilarious! Who would vote for this guy?"

Stella wasn't laughing. "Jeremy, that guy would be in his eighty's right now, I think people are smart enough to know that there is no way in the universe that Robert is the Once-ler. Besides, not much people know what the Once-ler even looked like."

Jeremy stopped laughing. "Yeah I guess your right."

The bus pulled up to Stella's street. "Ok, I gotta go Jeremy. Bye."

Jeremy bid his goodbye and Stella put her phone into her purse. She dismounted the bus and walked up the sidewalk to her house. Her keys jingled when she took them out of her purse and she unlocked the door. She put her bag on the small table in the hallway and took her tan coat off and hung it on the coat hanger. She walked upstairs to her room and changed out of her blouse and pencil skirt into jeans and a T-shirt. She grabbed her guitar and sat on her bed playing it. It was what she did every day after work to relieve the stress of the day. She heard a knock on her door and stopped playing. She set the guitar gently on the bed and stepped down the stairs before walking down the hallway to the door. She opened it to see her cousin, Audrey, at her door.

Stella looked puzzled. "What are you doing here?"

She checked her watch. "Its late."

Audrey shrugged. "I just wanna talk, like we used to."

Stella bit the bottom of her lip in thought. They hadn't really talked in three years when she was eighteen. Her life kind of was a little lonely now since she moved out of her parent's house. And she'd like to talk about the campaign a little with someone she knew.

She opened the door a little wider. "Sure, come in Audrey."

They sat in the lounge room with a bookshelf in the corner and a fireplace on the side wall with a tv on the wall opposite.

Stella poured sweet tea for the both of them and she sat on the couch. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Audrey sipped some of her tea. "I want to talk about the Election."

Stella smiled. "You read my mind. Ok. Who are you rooting for?"

Audrey looked at the ground for a moment and then looked back at her cousin. "I would go for you, but,"

Stella sat up. "But what?"

Audrey bit her lip. "I just think that Robert would be better."

She looked away, and bit her thumb nail, but Stella tried to hide her anger.

"Its just because Ted chose him, is it?"

Audrey shook her head, slightly relieved she wasn't yelled at. "No, but even though he may be nineteen, he's pretty experienced, and he knows what he's doing."

Stella kept her voice down and her expression calm. "How is he experienced? He'd have to have a high rank at some point in his life, and I have never heard of him before."

Audrey set her empty cup on the table. "He's not from here, he's from out of town."

Stella was puzzled for a moment. "Ted went out of town to get the seed. Is that how he met Robert?"

Audrey crossed her legs. "Um, yeah. There is a small town south of here. No one has heard of it much."

Stella believed her. "Oh."

Audrey stood up. "Well, it is pretty late, I think I'm gonna walk home now."

Stella got up too. "Ok."

They walked to the door and Audrey left. Her house was four houses down the sidewalk, so Stella was able to keep an eye on Audrey until she got to her front door to make sure she didn't get hurt or something. Then, a car drove by and she noticed that the driver was Robert Harrison. She frowned and shut her door. One thing was certain now. Even though they never met, Stella hated him.

Stella woke to her alarm and hit it to shut it off. She got up and put on black dress pants and a yellow button down dress shirt with a lace collar. She curled her hair and clipped a matching yellow pin in her hair. She rode the bus to the court house and got off eyeing Robert's sign as she walked by. She walked up the white marble steps to the court house and saw ,of all people she could see, Robert in a suit at the front desk. She walked by glaring at him and he caught her gaze looking confused. She continued down the hall, her heels echoing off the marble floors, and she opened the door to her office. She sat down in her chair and set her purse up on the desk. She checked her email for clients of her's and listened to the voicemail. After dealing with every case, It was time for her lunch break. She headed down to the café and opened the door. Someone was on the other side and he fell foreward onto the ground.

Stella gasped and bent over to help him up. "Are you ok?"

The guy turned around to face her and she noticed that it was Robert. He stood up and dusted his coat off. "Yeah, I'm fine, I should have watched where I was standing. That was all on me."

"Yes it is." Stella snapped.

Robert looked taken aback. "Okay." He said puzzled.

Stella rolled her eyes and began to walk to the order line. She paid the cashier and turned around to see Robert right behind her.

"Dude!"

Robert narrowed his eyes. "I'm in line, what is with you right now? Are you playing cold for all the other candidates or something?"

Stella picked up her tray. "Well what do you thing we are suppose to do? Hold hands and sing Barney songs?"

Robert glared at her. "Hey, I don't want any trouble alright? I was having a great day today and you come in with a bad mood and spoil it!"

He picked up his tray and walked away so he couldn't hear anymore.

She rolled her eyes and went over to sit with the intern, and best friend, Cassie.

Cassie looked up and smiled. "Hey Stella!"

Cassie, a blond haired, tan skinned girl, was always Stella's right hand woman. She was her best friend ever since Elementary school.

After talking about Cassie's new dog, Stella pointed over to where Robert was eating.

"She that guy over there?"

Cassie followed Stella's finger. "Oh, Robert Harrison?" She swooned. "Totally gorgeous!"

Stella stared at her. "Are you serious right now?"

Snapping out of it, Cassie sheepishly began to slurp her shake. "Maybe."

Stella scoffed. "Well, he's a jerk and a know it all goody two shoes. I mean, he's running for mayor and he's only nineteen!"

Cassie finished her shake. "Oh! Remember that Once-ler guy! He was nineteen when he became the mayor!" She paused. "But then I think he died."

Stella looked at her for a moment. "I don't remember anyone saying he died. He just exiled himself."

Cassie stared blankly at nothing in particular. "Why would you exile yourself?" She perked back up. "Oh! What if that guy _was_ the Once-ler!"

Stella slapped her hand to your face. "Cassie, how many years has it been since the Once-ler's exile?"

Cassie tapped her chin. "I think it was sixty years ago."

Stella nodded. "Good, so how old do you think he'd be?"

Cassie shrugged. "Twenty-three?"

Stella put her face in her hands and shook her head. "No Cassie. No. He'd be eighty."


	4. Chapter 4

The day before the rally had finally arrived and the Once-ler was in his room debating on what suit he should wear.

"Why don't you just go in your pjs, people like a guy with a sense of humor." The Lorax, who was sitting on the Once-ler's bed, was inhaling a plate of oatmeal cookies that Mrs. Wiggins made for him.

The Once-ler groaned. "Yeah, and after that I'll do a musical number with dancing squirrels." He snapped sarcastically.

"People want someone serious as there mayor who can make money."

The Lorax stared at him. "Make money? Don't tell me your doing the Thneed thing again."

The Once-ler jumped to his own defense. "Well excuse me, do you think I haven't learned my lesson? Sorry, I didn't mean to exactly make money, but to spend it wisely."

The Lorax popped another cookie in his mouth. "Ok beanpole, your off the hook. But if you even think of doing something stupid like that again-"

The Once-ler cut him off. "Yes, I am well aware of the consequences and outcomes of defiling nature."

He held up two suits. One was plain black, and the other was a greyish color with faint darker grey stripes on it. "Which one?"

The Lorax pointed to the grey one. "That one. The other one looks like something you'd see in a James Bond movie."

The Once-ler turned to the mirror and held the grey suit in front of him and nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, this one will do."

He hung the suits back in his closet and The Lorax finished his plate of cookies. He placed the empty plate on the Once-ler's nightstand and jumped off the bed. His small feet padded across the carpet as he approached the Once-ler. "So, how's that Stella girl?"

The Once-ler rolled his eyes. "Whiney and arrogant. Oh my gosh, you can _smell_ her ego, she thinks she's little miss popularity!"

He slammed the closet doors with anger from thinking of her. He turned to face the Lorax. "Did I have that bad of an ego when I made the Thneeds?"

The Lorax tapped his chin. "Well, you had the right to brag, everybody loved your invention, but you were still pretty bad."

Once-ler sighed. "Well, I'm better now aren't I?"

The Lorax shook his head. "Do you think you are better than her?"

Once-ler shrugged. "Yes."

"Then your no better than she is."

Mrs. Wiggins set the egg casserole in the middle of the table. Everyone seemed delighted by the sight of the dish except for Ted.

"Mom. Seriously? We had this yesterday!"

Mrs. Wiggins mimicked Ted's moaning. "Well I guess you will be hungry until lunch because I'm not making anything else."

Her lower lip protruded in an over exaggerated manner.

"Ok mom, I get it!" Ted grabbed his spoon and dished some of the casserole onto his plate.

The Once-ler laughed and checked the time. His smile dropped to a frown. "Shoot." He stood up and grabbed his bag. "I'm gonna be late for work!" He said as he left the house.

Ted pushed his unfinished plate in front of him. "That means I gotta get to school."

He grabbed _his _bag and headed out the door. "See ya guys!"

The three left at the table waved until the door shut.

After a few moments of silence, the Lorax pulled out some cards. "Alright, now that the boring one's are gone, who wants to play Poker?"

* * *

Stella and Jeremy sat across from each other at an extravagant restaurant the Jeremy had booked for them. They clicked wine glasses together.

"For luck at the rally!" Jeremy toasted, beaming.

"For luck." Stella repeated.

"And our upcoming marriage." Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows.

Stella set her cup down. "Uh, well. You know, our engagement is kind of…"

Jeremy smiled proudly. "Amazing? We've been dating since ninth grade."

Stella rubbed her hands together nervously. "Yeah, because we got homecoming king and queen."

Jeremy's smile sobered. "What are you trying to say? That our relationship is just for show?"

Stella gulped. "Well, we only dated because we were always on homecoming together, and I won sweetheart and you won heartthrob. And our engagement-"

"What about our engagement?" Jeremy was growing angry now. "Are you calling it off?"

"It was all in vain! We never loved each other, I don't think I have ever had a crush on you! I cant marry you!" Nearly everyone in the restaurant turned and stared at Stella in shock.

Jeremy's eyes narrowed. "Well I loved you."

Stella shook her head. "You only loved the idea of being the mayor's husband." She stood up and weaved in between the tables to the exit.

"So you break up with me the day before your rally. Way to go, now no one will vote for you!" Jeremy shouted after her. But Stella pushed the door open and left followed by the stares of everyone in the restaurant. A chill crept over the street and she pulled her coat tighter over her body. She waved at a taxi and got into the car silently. The only words she uttered was her address.

It was a long ride and so many things blew around in Stella's mind. The truth of her high school years. It was a fake life that came with a phony boyfriend. It was a popularity contest and so was the seat as the mayor. But she didn't worry about it too much, the only people that knew of her break up were the people in the restaurant.

She stepped out of the taxi and handed five dollars to the driver who took it and drove away. She stood at the street for a while staring into space. She snapped out of it when a car drove up to Audrey's house and the door opened and Audrey stepped out. "Bye Ted, bye sler!" Stella barely made out what she said. Slur? Stella shrugged it off and walked to her door. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and walked into her house closing the door behind her. She put her purse on the table and went strait to bed. She didn't play her guitar, and she didn't even change clothes.

* * *

The Once-ler woke to his alarm. He smacked the off button and sat up, stretching. Today was the day of the rally. He suddenly gained more energy and ran into the bathroom to take a shower. It was a strangely designed bathroom. Two sinks were in the room where the two bedrooms joined and it had another two joining rooms. One room had a toilet, and the other had the shower. The sound of the shower woke the Lorax. He yawned and rubbed his eyes and turned to the bathroom smileing menacingly. He jumped off of his bed and tiptoed to the room with the toilet where he laughed and flushed it. The sound of the gurgling water was followed by a shrill scream and the Lorax ran out into the living room to find the Wiggins family staring at him.

"Is everything alright?" Mrs. Wiggins asked with a concerned expression on her face.

The Lorax shifted his feet. "Well, when beanpole gets out here, he hasn't been sunburnt." He grinned and the Once-ler ran out of the bathroom already in his suit he had picked out for the rally but his hair was still dripping.

"Ok, who did that!" He glared at the Lorax and rolled his eyes. "Do I even have to ask." He turned around and walked back into his room to finish prepping for the rally.

The Wiggin's family exploded into laughter when the door closed behind him. The Lorax held his hand up and they all slapped him high-fives. Or low-fives.

The Once-ler finished drying his hair and he sat on the couch with the newspaper. He turned to the politics section to get some info on the campaign and on the front page were huge words:

**STELLA OLSON BREAKS OFF WITH FEONCE **

He became puzzled and read more of the article.

"Stella Olson, a favorite in the campaign for the Mayor's seat was dinning with her feonce, Jeremy Branson last night when she suddenly called off their wedding. Not a very smart move the night before the rally. She is expected to get very few votes on tomorrows voting and even if she makes the final three, she wont make it past that."

Once-ler closed the newspaper and smirked. "That's what she deserves." He muttered. But he then changed his mind. He felt slightly sorry for her. He pushed the thought away and called for Ted.

"Are we ready to go to the rally?" Ted answered sliding down the stair railing.

The Once-ler nodded and motioned for him to go to the garage. Once-ler hopped into the drivers seat, and Ted crawled into the back. The drove down the street to pick up Audrey and headed down to the center of town where the first tree was planted. A stage was set up with four podiums in front of the tree and the soft, pink fluff dangled down over the stage. The others were already at their podiums and they stared at the Once-ler as he walked up to the stage and stood behind the podium marked "Robert". Chandler spoke first using flattering words, and cheesy visions for the city in his speech. His "dream" was to make the city the cleanest place on the planet Earth. The others looked as though they were going to die of boredom and the old man, Kevin, actually was asleep. Once-ler couldn't help but think that he could be in that condition at this moment. After Chandler, it was the Once-ler's turn to speak. His speech went a lot smoother than he had planned. He seemed to catch the attention of the audience better than Chandler did. Maybe it was because he was telling the truth. He would never let anyone chop down another tree, and would strive to find ways to keep the water and air cleaner than it was for the previous years. When he finished, a few groups teenage girls screamed and held up posters saying things like, "We love you Robbie!" and had hearts all over them. He felt the piercing and jealous gaze of Chandler and turned to look the other way. When the noise calmed down, it was Stella's turn. She opened her mouth to speak and a tomatoe flew over the crowd and hit her in the face, busting and splashing red all over her face and shirt.

"Hey Stella! Where's your ring at?" People taunted throwing more tomatoes at her.

Stella backed off the stage and ran down the street to the back of the court house with tomatoes flying after her. Once-ler didn't know why, but he ran after her. When he got to the side of the court house, he peered around the corner to see Stella sitting on the back steps wiping her face. The Once-ler walked over to her and stood in front of her.

Stella looked up. "Oh Robert, what do you want?"

She tried to sound perfectly fine, but her nose was stuffed and her face was puffy from crying. The Once-ler sat down next to her and pulled out the handkerchief from the shirt pocket of his suit and handed it to her. She looked like she was going to protest, but sighed and took it. She wiped her face clean of the red fruit but she was still covered from head to toe. "Why did you come back here with me?"

"Because no matter how much someone alienates you, when they need help, you should still be a friend." He laughed. "Cheesy I know, but one of my best friends taught me that. I made a promise and didn't keep it so I pushed him away." He looked down at his feet. "But even then, he still had faith in me, and after I fixed it, he came back. Now we are best friends. Of coarse, he did prank me this morning."

Stella sniffed and smiled. "What kind of prank?"

The Once-ler reddened. "What happens to the shower while its on and someone flushes the toilet."

Stella laughed. "Really? Whats his name?"

The Once-ler froze. What is a good name for him?… "Steve." He said quickly.

Stella smiled. "Sounds like something a guy named Steve would do." She turned to face him. "Thank you Robert."

Once-ler shrugged. "Its alright."

They stood up and Stella looked down at her outfit. "I don't think any bus or taxi will accept me like this."

"Well, we take your cousin home, and there is plenty of room in my car." The Once-ler offered.

Stella brightened. "Okay."

When the rally was over, Once-ler and Stella rounded up Ted and Audrey and they got into the van. Ted and Audrey sat in the back, and Once-ler and Stella sat up front.

When they reached Stella's house, she opened the door and stepped out. "Thank you so much Robert."

Once-ler shrugged. "We have the same job, I'd be happy to carpool. It would be cheaper than taking taxis and buses all the time."

Stella nodded. "That sounds great." She waved. "Bye!" And shut the door.

They continued driving and dropped Audrey off. As soon as she shut the door, Ted jumped up front. "So? What's up with you and Stella?"


	5. Chapter 5

The Once-ler woke to his alarm clock and pressed the off button tiredly. He got out of his bed and went to the closet to get dressed. He had left a sticky note on it reminding him that he needed to pick up Stella for work. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wiggins was cooking pancakes for breakfast. The Lorax smelled them while coming from his room and nearly went into a frenzy.

Luckly, Granny Norma was right behind him and she stopped him from attacking the pancakes with her cane. "Woah fuzzy, we gotta wait for everyone else."

The Lorax reluctantly obeyed and sat at the table. To make matters worse for him, the plate of buttery pancakes were smack in the center of the table in arms reach. The Once-ler noticed how much the Lorax wanted the food, so he took his own sweet time getting dressed and combing his hair. When he was finished, he made a scene of walking in slow motion to his chair at the table. But the infuriated Lorax could wait no longer. He stabbed his fork into the top three pancakes and devoured them before the Once-ler was even halfway across the room.

Mrs. Wiggins rolled her eyes. "Alright guys, breakfast is served."

When they finished breakfast, Ted left for school, and the Once-ler hopped into his car. He drove down the street to Stella's house and honked the horn. The door opened, and Stella came out in a tan trench coat, black dress pants, and light brown wedges. He purse swung at her hip as she strode across her front lawn to the car. "Hey Robert." She said getting into the car.

The Once-ler felt slightly awkward. "Hey."

The car was quiet until Stella decided to break the silence. "Sorry about being so rude to you before the rally. I guess since we were rivals, it made me think of you as an enemy." She turned to the window and sighed. "But I guess my enemy now is Jeremy."

Once-ler bit his lower lip as he thought of something to say. He had never been in love before, let alone gone through a break up. "Well he seemed like a jerk anyways. I don't think anyone in the right mind throws a tomato at his ex. He must never have loved you."

Stella looked down at her hands resting in her lap. "That why I broke up with him. I don't think we were ever in love."

His eyebrow raised in a questioning manner. "If you guys were never in love, then why were you engaged to him?"

She shrugged. "I guess it was a popularity thing." She chuckled sarcastically. "In high school it's a scramble for popularity. I had won it easily and so did Jeremy. But popularity doesn't give you any freedom at all, it's like my book was already written. I was the top girl, and he was the top guy, so we

_had_ to be together. That's how it went." She sighed softly. "But now that I'm older, I realized that it's not what I want. So I dumped him."

The Once-ler had never been to high school since he was homeschooled by his family and he didn't understand much about that kind of social life. But he was popular when he sold the Thneeds and he was popular now, so apparently he may have been like Stella or Jeremy. Stella's experience must have been harsh. He hadn't thought she could have an ounce of wisdom when they met, but he was wrong.

They parked the car by the court house and walked up the marble steps to the big doors. Cassie was in the lobby and cocked her head to the side in confusion as the pair walked in. She put down the newspaper she was reading and confronted the two. "Hey Stella, hi Robert. Anything new?"

Stella and Robert exchanged a quick glance. "This is my cousin's boyfriend's, uh…" Stella didn't know his relation to Ted.

"Cousin." The Once-ler finished hoping they would believe it. They might get a little suspicious if he had shown up from nowhere and no relation to anyone.

Cassie and Stella obviously bought it because they shared the same understanding expressions.

Cassie fawned. "Aw, you guys are finishing each other's sentences!"

Stella and the Once-ler laughed uncomfortably. The Once-ler shook his head. "You have the wrong idea."

Cassie shrugged. "I get that a lot." She picked up the newspaper that she had set on the front desk. "Have you guys seen this yet? Turns out, Stella actually made it to the final three to be elected as mayor! Kevin, the old man, received very few votes because he was asleep when he was suppose to give his speech!" She keeled over laughing and the paper drifted to the ground.

The Once-ler picked it up. "It's true Stella, look!"

Stella took the paper and skimmed through the article. In her sudden excitement, she embraced the Once-ler tightly. Her excitement died down a little and she immediately pulled away in embarrassment. "Sorry Robert." Her cheeks flushed.

The Once-ler laughed. "Its ok, I'm just surprised that I beat Chandler."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "He thinks he's so hot." She shook her head. "No, Robert totally beat him."

Once-ler's eyes widend and Stella slapped her hand to her face. "Yeah, you know that thing in your head that tells you not to say something?"

The Once-ler nodded.

"Yeah, she doesn't have that."

He chuckled. "I can tell." He poured coffee into a cup and took a sip. "Well, its about time for us to be in our offices." He inquired looking at the clock on the wall. The others agreed and they went their separate ways.

* * *

Robert dropped Stella off at her house. Before she got out, he remembered something.

"Oh yes, me, Audrey and Ted are planting some trees in Audrey's yard. Do you want to come?"

Stella smiled. Audrey lived right down the road fro the two of them, so they wouldnt need a car pull. "Sure!" She hopped out of the car, waved, and unlocked her house. She set her bag on the usual table and went upstairs to her bedroom. She opened her dresser and pulled out a pair of faded blue jeans, a faded green button down shirt, and sneakers hoping they would all fit. She didnt have much clothes that she could get dirty in. Fortunatly, they did. She went back outside and strode across the street to Audrey's house. Ted, Robert, and Audrey were already there in their clothes, and Stella couldnt help but notice how cute Robert looked. He was waering faded grey and black striped jeans, a white collar button down shirt, a grey vest over the shirt, and a matching fedora. It was an ideal work outfit in hot weather like this.

They greeted her when she approached. "Hey Stella!"

She walked over to Robert who was holding a shovel. "Hey Rob. I didnt know you had clothes like that."

He smiled. "Same here. You clean up well."

Stella blushed slightly and turned to the young tree that had just been planted. "It's so pretty." She breathed.

Audrey picked up another small tree from the wheel barrel. It's roots were bound in a small pouch of fertilizer. They got the trees from a nursery that had went up the week after the first tree was planted. The trees grow fast, and were already taller than Robert! "Yeah, they just started selling them today!"

Robert handed her a shovel of her own to use. "Ok, there are five trees and each one needs to be about," He paused and bit his lower lip pondering. "Six feet from eachother." He finished.

So, they began to dig five holes while Audrey and Ted followed placing trees in the holes, watering them, and covering them with dirt watering them again. They had planted two when the Lorax walked up to Audrey's yard. "Hey beanpole, hey Ted, hey Audrey." He glanced at Stella. "Who's she?" He asked pointing a fuzzy finger.

Stella gasped when she saw the furry orange creature who could speak.

Robert put his shovel down and stood next to Stella to introduce her. "This is Stella Olson. She is also running for mayor."

The Lorax smiled. "I thought that you hated her."

Robert defended himslef quickly. "Well I didnt really know her at the time, and we were suppose to be rivals, but I didnt hate her."

Stella laughed. "After the way I treated you, I wounted be suprised if you did hate me."

Robert lowered his gaze to the ground and the Lorax tilted his head to the side. "Aw. Do you guys need an apologetic hug?" He stretched his arms out and began walking to the two. Robert put his hand in front of the Lorax holding him back. "No, we dont need any hugs."

The Lorax shrugged. "Whatever you say Once." He turned and joined Ted and Audrey who were watering a tree.

Stella seemed puzzled. "I dont understand that guy. Why did he add the 'Once' at the end?" She asked outloud.

Robert froze. Stupid lorax! He almost gave it away. "Ha! Yeah, he must have been drinking coffee earlier."

Then, the Lorax made the palms of his hands face the small tree and he made the tree just a little taller and sturdier. Stella gasped. She couldnt beleive her eyes.

She turned to face Robert in bewilderment. "Ok, how did he just do that?" She demanded.

"He has magic." Robert said honestly. "But he can only affect plants." He lied to keep Stella off his case. If she found out he was the Once-ler, he would be banished from Thneedville again, or under severe circumstances, killed.

Stella laughed. "That is so amazing! People will _definently _vote for you when they find out you have a friend like this!"

* * *

After a few hours of working, the trees were all planted. The sun began to set, so they all went their separate ways home. Exept for the Once-ler. He walked Stella home since he had dropped is office keys when he dropped her off at her house. It didnt take long until they found them in the patch of grass by the road. They had found them at the same time and stood up face to face. Stella felt herself being drawn to him and their lips were barely two inches apart and she closed her eyes.

But Robert backed away. "Goodnight Stella." He said quietly and started his way to his car.

Stella sighed and opened her eyes. "Goodnight Robert."

She watched him walk back to Audrey's where his van was and he called for Ted and the Lorax. Audrey waved them goodbye. She called out Ted, and the Lorax and something else but not Robert's name. It sounded like she had said "Uh-sler". Stella shook her head. That was the second time. She unlocked her door and went inside. She changed into her light green nightgown and sat on her bed with her laptop to check her email. She had a few ad messages but none of any use. In boredom, she typed in, 'The History of Theedville.' She had always found it interesting. The beautiful pictures of the vallys of truffula's where the city stood now seemed unreal, and hopefully, it would be as pretty again. She was browsing through the pictures and captions facinated by how different things were. Then, the pictures of the mayor came up. He was in a green formal suit woth a big top hat, shades, and he was holding a fuzzy clothing item that was called a 'Thneed'. Her heart began to thud in her chest for he looked alot like Robert. She chuckled at her own sillyness. That wasnt Robert, that was the Once-ler who is now much, _much_ older than she is. She scrolled down more and saw a picture of the orange guy she met earlier that day. Her eyes widened. He was on a bilboard holding a thneed and to the side it said 'Lorax Approved!' How was the Lorax alive at the time? Maybe he could do more than grow plants at an amazing rate. She searched 'The Lorax' and read more about him. He was trying to stop the Once-ler from destroying the forest, but failed. No one has seen him or the Once-ler since the day the last tree was cut down. _Until now_. She thought. But why would the Lorax come back? She shut he laptop and prepared for bed. She would have to ask him tomorrow. In the meantime, sleep was needed.


	6. Chapter 6

The Once-ler opened his eyes a mere few seconds before the alarm began ringing. He smiled and slapped the off button. "Beat you to it loser!" He yelled at the nonliving object. He was in a great mood today for some reason. He didn't have any idea what that reason may be, but he was happy. He quickly slipped his work suit on and then proceeded to the bathroom mirror to brush his hair. Unfortunately for him, the Lorax was running the Once-ler's comb through his mustache. He stood on a green children's stool so he could reach the mirror, and his loose hairs were everywhere on the sink.

Once-ler's eye twitched. "That's the second time you've done that!"

The Lorax shrugged. "Hey, at least I didn't use your toothbrush." He set the comb in the Once-ler's hand. It had yellow and orange fur tied up in between the bristles. "You can use that, I'm done anyway." The Lorax jumped off of the stool and padded to the kitchen leaving Once-ler to pick all the furs out of the comb.

The Once-ler finished combing his hair and walked into the dining room to see a fresh trey of blueberry muffins in the middle of the table. As usual, the Lorax had already devoured half of the muffins. Once-ler sat down at an empty chair between ted and the Lorax and reached for a muffin.

Ted, who had just finished chewing a muffin, swallowed it and asked, "Do you like Stella?"

The Once-ler paused in mid chew. Then he felt something poke him in the rips and jumped making the muffin fly out of his mouth and onto his lap. The family shared a chorus of 'ew's and the Once-ler glared at the Lorax, who was laughing hard enough to make tears stream from his eyes.

"Do you think this is funny?" He asked in a raised tone. He grabbed a napkin and picked up the muffin.

The Lorax wiped his eyes. "The look on your face was priceless!"

Once-ler rolled his eyes as the Lorax babbled on and stood up to throw the muffin away. When he came and sat back down, he did not sit next to the Lorax.

Once-ler got into the driver's seat of the car and drove down the block to Stella's house. He honked the horn of the car and the door opened. Stella stepped out of the house with a black pencil skirt, and a white blouse. He felt his face grow hot and he turned away acting as if to check the side mirror. He heard the door open and sighed silently, colling his face and he turned to greet her. "Hey Stella."

She smiled a lovely smile. "Hey Robert."

A pang of guilt stabbed the Once-ler in his chest, for he didn't know who he really was. But the Once-ler couldn't tell her, she'd hate him after what he did. Not to mention, she'd be freaked out by the fact that he was really around ninety years old.

They arrived in the parking lot and walked together up the marble stairs to the courthouse. A voice behind them made them jump.

"Well, well, well. I wonder what Jeremy thinks of you dumping him and then begin hanging out with some skinny guy who happens to be a rival." Chandler stepped in front of the two with his hands behind his back and his chin up as if he was all prim and proper.

Stella shoved past him. "Lay off Chandler, your just jealous because Robert is beating you in the election."

Chandler, now angry ran in front of them to block them again. "That was just a hoax." He glared at the Once-ler. "The news does that to make it seem like the second place person is winning, but it just makes everyone feel sorry for the first place guy, so he gets more votes."

The Once-ler frowned. Could it be true.

Stella rolled her eyes and grabbed the Once-ler's arm. He felt nervous when she touched him. She pushed past Chandler again and drug the Once-ler up the rest of the stairs to the door.

Chandler stood where he was, scowling. "Nice skirt by the way." He said bitterly as the door closed.

Stella growled. "The nerve of that guy! Don't listen to him Robert, it's a silly lie, there is know whay he is going to win, hes just trying to make you give up."

The Once-ler smiled. She was probably right. The citizens obviously trust her enough to vote for her even after the Jeremy incident.

After work, they got into the car and began backing out of the parking lot. "Oh yeah," Stella started. "Don't drop me off at my house, I want to come over."

The Once-ler seemed puzzled. "Why? What for?" He realized how mean he sounded. "I'm sorry, I mean, sure, you can, but I'm just curious about the reason."

Stella shrugged. "I don't know, I kind of want to know ted and the Lorax a bit better."

He smiled. "Yeah, but I do you warn you, the Lorax can be a pain in the tail."

They drove into the garage where the Lorax was sitting on a lawn chair reading a magazine. He looked up as they drove up. The lorax put his magazine down and went over to greet Stella. "What brings you here?" HE asked winking at the Once-ler.

The Once-ler rolled his eyes and Stella shook the Lorax's small, furry hand. "I just want to get to know you guys a little better. You seemed nice yesterday."

They invited her inside where Mrs. Wiggins just pulled some fresh baked ginger-snaps out of the oven. The aroma filled the room with a great smell. The Lorax ran to the plate which was overflowing with cookies and grabbed about five and the rest of the family followed. Stella kept her eye on the Lorax to see where he went.

She wanted to ask him about the Once-ler. "Hey, Robert, I'm going to go talk to the Lorax about his magic."

The Once-ler popped a cookie in his mouth and nodded.

Stella followed the Lorax back to the lounge chair and before he could pick up the magazine, he spotted her. "Hey Stell? Whats up?"

Stella sat in the chair next to him. "I was curious about what happened to the trees."

He shrugged. "They were all chopped down for thneeds."

She shook her head. "No, in detail, I want to know what happened."

The Lorax sighed. "Well, a guy named the Once-ler moved into the forest and cut down a tree. He was using the tufts for material to make his scarf looking thing with holes in it, aka, the thneed. Well, after he refused to leave, we put his bed in the river and turns out, it led to a waterfall. He almost died, but luckly I knew CPR."

Stella gave him a questioning look.

The Lorax groaned "Yes, the mouth to mouth kind, but back to the story. So, he promised not to cut down trees. Well, he went to sell his thneed, and people loved it. He invited his family over to help. But pretty soon, they convinced him to chop down the trees so they could make thneeds faster." He shook his head slowly. "He became so twisted at that time. He was more worried about money than anything else and he needed more. But soon, the last tree fell, and he was done."

Stella soaked this in. "So what happened to him?"

The Lorax scratched his head, thinking of a lie. "He drove away and fell off a cliff."

Stella raised an eyebrow clearly not convinced. "Why are you trying to cover it up? Is he still alive today?"

The Lorax nodded. "Yes, he is."

She tried to imagine how old he looked now. Would Robert look like him when he got old? "Do you know where he is?"

The Lorax smiled. "Well, he's closer than you think."

Stella didn't understand but she moved on to another subject. "Why did you come back?"

His eyes darted around. How could he answer these without giving up the Once-ler's identity. "Well, the tree was planted again, and I came back here with Robert to see it."

She raised an eyebrow. "You were with Robert before he moved here?"

The lorax wanted to slap himself in the face. He almost gave it up! "Yes, I was in his town since this one sucked."

Stella remembered that Robert's town was a few miles south of Thneedville. But she had never heard of it. "That's, that's interesting." She stood up and began to walk inside. "Thanks for the story," She added to be polite.

The Lorax shrugged. "No problem!"

Stella shut the door behind her still soaking in what she had heard. The Once-ler's predicament didn't quite make sense. And why was she so worried about it anyway? She shrugged the thought away and walked into the living room here Ted and Robert were challenging each other with 3D video games. It was amusing. Apparently Robert hasn't played video games much because he was losing big time. She sat next to him trying not to laugh at the big 3D glasses. "So you've never played video games before?"

Robert groaned. "No, and it doesn't take a mind reader to figure it out." He yelped thrust himself sideways when a zombie popped up in front of him on the screen. His face flushed a deep red and he glanced at Stella to see her reaction. Lucky for him, she had jumped too and was leaning backwards over the side of the couch.

Ted laughed. "You didn't even have glasses on." He rolled his eyes. "Girls."

Robert took of his glasses. "Ok, I'm done with this for today." He glanced at Stella. "You ready to go home?"

Stella nodded. "Yeah, its getting late." She turned to the window and sure enough, the sun was setting.

Robert stood up and she followed him to garage where the Lorax was sleeping on the lounge chair.

"What was your old town like?" She asked out of curiosity.

Robert gulped thinking of a convincing lie. "Well, it was very smoggy like this one used to be, but it still had real grass and weeds. But when we heard the trees went up, me and the Lorax came here."

Stella wasn't convinced. "How were you guys the only ones that have moved here then?"

He knew she would ask that. "Because Ted is my cousin, and you may not have noticed the others who have heard about it because they didn't stand out like I did. I ran for mayor."

Stella had bought it. It wade good sense. They hopped into the car and drove down to Stella's house.

She waved goodbye as Robert drove away and then went inside putting her purse on the table and going up to her room to change. She slipped on a light green T-shirt and a matching set of PJ pants and got her laptop. She sat on her bed with it and searched "Thneedville" in google maps and the satellite map came up. She scrolled around in all directions but there were only small farms that had been abandoned. The next town was over two-hundred miles west! Stella sat back, stunned. Maybe she didn't see it. She scrolled back to Thneedville and then scrolled a few miles south. There was a large, white house randomly occupying the land and the trees were planted evenly in rows there. She zoomed in and saw a sign but she couldn't make out what it said. She then typed in Robert's name, but only his campaign poster showed up. Robert just randomly appeared when Ted brought him here to run for mayor. She wanted to call him and ask but he might wonder wy she was searching him. She typed in "the Once-ler" and the pictures she had seen before of him in the green suit appeared on the screen. She then typed in "Once-ler's beginning" and found a news article about the new invention of the thneed. She scrolled down without reading and saw the picture associated with it and gasped. It was Robert in his work suit and fedora! She couldn't believe it. Robert _was _the Once-ler, the man who chopped all the trees down in the first place! He couldn't be mayor now. She got out of bed and went to her closet to change, but before she could open it, someone spoke behind her.

"Hello Stella." It said. It was very familiar. She quickly turned around but was blinded by someone putting a bag over her head. She felt something hit her head and sleep fell over her.


	7. Chapter 7

The Once-ler had just gotten home after he dropped Stella off back at her house and went to his room. Her changed into grey PJs and proceeded to the bookshelf. He selected one and didn't read the title, but just sat in his chair by the window and stared up at Stella's room. He had to admit it, he loved her. He saw her silhouette on what seemed to be a bed and had something in her lap that looked like a laptop. He saw her jump up suddenly and go to one side of the room and someone else appeared next to her. He couldn't tell who it was because her shades were drawn and he could only see silhouettes, and he grabbed her and someone else appeared next to them. Stella suddenly went limp. The Once-ler dropped the book on the floor and ran out of his room and into the Lorax.

"What's the rush beanpole?" He asked in annoyance, but he saw the expression on the Once-ler's face and sobered. "What happened?"

The Once-ler's hands went up to his head. "Someone kidnapped Stella! I was looking in her window and saw it!" He realized how creepy that sounded. "I could only see silhouettes because her curtains were drawn."

"Ok, calm down. We have to chase them down and-" The Lorax was cut off as the phone rang. The Once-ler answered it quickly. "Hello?"

The voice on the other line was familiar, but the Once-ler couldn't quite figure out specifically who it was. "We have Stella."

Once-ler scowled. "Yes, I saw, and don't think we aren't gonna-"

"Oh, so you wanna find her?" The voice asked menacingly.

"Yes, I do." The Once-ler was about to hang up and get into his car.

"Well, what if she was at the old thnned factory outside of town? Nobody would ever find her." The voice had a smooth, but evil tone to it. He was enjoying this, making the Once-ler even more angry.

Now that he knew the location, he slammed down the phone and ran to the garage. The Lorax skittered after him. "Hey, wait up!"

They jumped into the car and the Once-ler started it. "What are we going to do now?" The Lorax asked, quite confused.

"They have her at the old thneed factory." The Once-ler pulled out of the driveway and sped down the road.

The Lorax shook his head. "This could be a trap! They will get both you and her if you go." The Lorax's eyes widened. "And me too! No one will ever find us again!"

"Well I'm not just gonna let her be trapped in there forever." The Once-ler turned sharply at turns and the speedometer was at 120 mph.

The Lorax pointed. "Slow down! Were gonna-" The car slammed into a tree dividing the car in half. The Once-ler and the Lorax glanced at each other from the two halves of the car and shared a brief expression of relief when they noticed that they were both ok.

They got out of the half cars and looked at the wreckage.

The Once-ler threw his hands up to the top of his head and the Lorax pulled on his mustache in despair. "What do we do now!" The Once-ler moaned.

The Lorax looked down the road. "I guess we run."

Stella woke tied to a chair in the center of a large room. A very large room, in fact, it was a factory. Conveyer belts lined the walls and were suspended in the air above her. It was old and rusty and there were pink tufts of fluff scattered everywhere. It took a moment to realize where she was, then it hit her. She was in the thneed factory. She heard two voices behind her and craned he head around to see them. She felt shock run through her body. It was Jeremy and Chandler!

"I'm calling Robert right now, he couldn't resist saving Stella from the factory, then we'll get him." Chandler laughed and dialed a number. He handed Jeremy the phone book her was using and waited for an answer.

Stella gasped. _Not Rober_t! Then she remembered. He was not Robert, He was the lying, tree-cutting, nature mangling Once-ler who wanted to take over Thneedville again. She felt a pang of sadness in her chest. She had thought that he was the guy for her, but as it turns out he was no better that Chandler or Jeremy. _Let Robert come and get captured._ She thought. _Then he wont be mayor of Thneedville and chop down our trees._

Chandler had finished his phone call and turned to Jeremy with a grin on his face. "He's coming! I am going to be mayor for sure!" He thrust his fist in the air and then turned to see Stella watching them. Stella quickly turned away and she heard footprints approach her. Chandler walked in front of her and squatted down to meet her at eyelevel. "Your boyfriend is coming to get you sweetheart." He smiled. "But we've figured this whole place out and when he comes and realizes we are after him, he wouldn't know where to run without getting caught by us first."

Stella glared at him. This guy was such an egomaniac! He didn't even make any sense! But he was wrong about catching him. The Once-ler had lived here when he was in his youth, well, first youth. But he would know all the little particles of dust in this place. She wanted to snide a comment back to Chandler, but didn't want to defend the Once-ler either.

Chandler smiled when Stella just dropped her head and stared at the floor. He walked away and began to converse with Jeremy. Meanwhile, Stella was conjuring up a plan to escape while they were after the Once-ler. Chandler and Jeremy were pretty stupid. What if the Once-ler brought the whole family along with him? Chandler's party of two would be hilariously outnumbered!

The Once-ler couldn't take long enough to get here. About two hours had past and he was still a no show. She had tried getting out of her chair for half an hour but gave up, for she couldn't writhe herself out of the bonds. Jeremy and Chandler had fallen asleep and were in silly positions that made Stella want to laugh out loud. But of coarse she didn't, she didn't want to wake them!

She heard a creak come from a hallway up the stairs that led down to the room and she looked up seeing the Lorax. He lied to her too and Stella wasn't so overjoyed about seeing him. Then, the Once-ler appeared it the hallway and Stella's heart leaped even though she had now hated him. He ran down the stairs and over to her chair and began to untie the ropes on her feet. Once they were untied, she kicked at him and her foot met his chin making him flop backwards with a yelp of pain and land with a thump on the hard floor. He kept from yelling out too loud and put his hand over the lower part of his face. He looked up and met her scowling gaze.

"What was that for?" He whispered angrily.

Stella clenched her fists. "You lied to me! You lied to EVERYONE!" She screamed in a whisper. It was frustrating trying to yell but stay quiet at the same time.

The Once-ler acted confused. "What did I lie about?"

Stella rolled her eyes. "Don't act so innocent! You know exactly what I'm talking about! You lied about your very identity!" She whisper-yelled.

The Once-ler's face sobered and his gaze fell to the floor in guilt.

Stella kept herself from feeling sorry. "You are the Once-ler, the monster who chopped down the trees and demolished the area for your own pleasures and money. And now you want to be mayor again and relive the glory again? I don't think so!"

The Lorax walked slowly over to Stella. "Yes, he did do all those things Stella, but he regretted them when he had seen what he had done. He spent the next sixty years moping about it in his home outside of Thneedville. But one day, Ted came and asked for a tree. Once-ler helped regrow the trees by giving Ted the last truffula seed that he had kept just in case. Ted chose him as mayor because he _knew _that the Once-ler had learned his lesson and knew exactly what to do. The Once-ler doesn't want his power or glory anymore, but want place to return back to the way it was." He untied Stella the rest of the way and she stood up.

"How do I know you aren't lying? That's all you have been doing this whole time." She asked sadly and turned and walked up the stairs leaving the two alone with Chandler and Jeremy.

The Once-ler stood up with remorse. "Another terrible mistake." He began walking across the room, the kidnappers were long forgotten. "I'm going home. _My _home, alone as I should be." He exited down a different corridor.

The Lorax followed him. He passed by the sleeping men and thrust out his hand giving them amnesia of their whole kidnapping plan.

The Once-ler opened the door to his home next to the unless stone and noticed that the Lorax was behind him. "Oh, hey." He said dryly without expression. He held the door open for the Lorax and shut it solemnly behind him.

The Lorax stared at the Once-ler with sadness in his eyes. "I hate seeing you like this." He suddenly became angry. "Why do you do this? Something bad happens and it's the end of the world! Go back to Thneedville and even if you don't become mayor, just live and grow old happily _there_. Maybe you will meet someone else."

The Once-ler sighed. "Its late and I need sleep. I'll go back to Ted's tomorrow." And with that he trudged slowly up the stairs with such a slouched position that he looked old again.

(900 views! *celebrates*)


	8. Chapter 8

The Once-ler awoke in his room and glanced at the alarm clock. But there was none. He was back at his original house He jumped out of bed in a rush and threw open his closet and picked out a older, but still nice light brown suit which he slipped on quickly. Since he was farther away He couldn't be late to pick up Stella- but then he remembered. She had found out who he really was and would most likely be avoiding him, but he wasn't sure if she would need a ride or not. Biting his fingernails, he debated whether or not he should call her and make sure or just leave it be. He cautiously picked up the phone and slowly dialed in her number. Once-ler expected her not to pick up. She would probably glance at the caller id (since it actually said "the once-ler" since it was his home) and walk on by, but she didn't, she answered.

"What do you want now." She said sounding tired and stuffy nosed. He voice was rough as if she had been yelling all night.

The Once-ler tapped his finger on the table. "Um, I just called about how you are going to get to work." He expected her to snap at him or slam the phone down, but she still continued in her distressed tone.

"Um, I'll just take the bus." She sniffed. "It isn't that much money."

Once-ler sighed. "Ok." He was about to bid her goodbye, but he continued. "You wont tell anyone about me will you? But you have every reason to-"

"No, its fine, just keep your identity. No one would probably believe me anyway."

They were silent for a few moments before the Once-ler began again. "So, I guess we just, go our separate ways."

Stella breathed into the phone a sniffed. "That would be best."

Once-ler felt loss grip his chest. "Ok. Goodbye." But she had already hung up. He set the phone back on the stand and trudged on into the bathroom to comb his hair. He ran into the Lorax in the hallway who gazed up at him with pity in his eyes. The Lorax sighed.

"Its ok beanpole, you'll find someone else someday."

The Once-ler shook his head slowly. "No, that's not happening again." He walked into his bathroom and faced the mirror. He ran a comb through his dark brown hair and brushed his teeth.

The Lorax had fixed the broken down car and had it parked outside of the Once-ler's home before he could call for a taxi.

The Once-ler smiled when he saw the car. "Well, at least I still have good friends."

After the long drive from his house in the middle of nowhere, the Once-ler finally arrived at the courthouse. He glanced at his watch and, just as he had thought, he was late. He quickly rushed inside and signed in.

"Your late." The lady at the reception desk said flatly reading a book.

"Yes I know." The Once-ler replied quickly scribbling down his signature.

The lady looked up at him. "Why didn't you and Stella come in together? You usually do. And she seemed really upset this morning when she came in."

The Once-ler's eyes lowered. "Yeah, uh, I was running late so she-"

"You broke up didn't you?"

The Once-ler looked back up at the receptionist with fake confusion. He forced a fake laugh. "What? No! We were never together!"

The receptionist didn't buy it. "Mmhmm." She mused sarcastically.

The Once-ler bid her goodbye and hurried to his office. He rounded the corner fast and bumped into someone who's papers flew everywhere. He half hoped that it was Stella, but when he looked up he met the face of Chandler. He almost ran strait out of the building, but remembered the amnesia that the Lorax put on him after he had kidnapped Stella.

Chandler moaned. "First, I forget where I am, then all of a sudden, a month flies by behind my back, and now I mess up all my paper work that took hours to sort!"

The Once-ler, still slightly cautious of the man bent down to help, but Chandler shooed him away. "Idont need help, I'm a grown man honestly!"

Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Actually, he woke up in the old thneed factory. The Once-ler shrugged and continued down the hall. He passed by Stella's room and could hear her on the phone. He sighed and continued to his office located at the end of the hallway. He sat in his desk which had the morning newspaper on it. On the front cover was an article about the campaign. Apparently, the Once-ler had the highest chance of winning, but that didn't make him much happier. She sighed and sat back in his chair. He had just gotten comfortable, when the phone rang. He reluctantly sat back up and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, I figured you'd be at work, you and the Lorax weren't in the house this morning and I got a little worried." It was Ted's mother on the other line.

The Once-ler laughed. "Well there's nothing to worry about, I just went to my own house outside of town."

"Yes, but what about the Lorax?"

Mrs. Wiggins seemed worried about the little guy. Instead of being a friend (who sometimes got on his nerves) like he was to the Once-ler, the Lorax was more of a pet to her.

"Well, as soon as he gets hungry, he'll be over there soon." That was true.

Mrs. Wiggins sounded relieved like anyone would when they found out that their lost pet was found. "Oh that's good. Ok, thank you Mr. Once-ler!"

The Once-ler huffed. "Please stop adding the Mr. in front of my name. I'm younger than you."

"Not exactly." Mrs. Wiggins said before hanging up.

And that was true. And it was also one of the reasons that Stella never wanted to speak to him again.

(Sorry for the long time off, I was on vacation in Colorado and left my laptop at home. Which sucked because, if it weren't for the skiing, I would have died of boredom!)


	9. Chapter 9

Stella pushed open one of the double doors to the café and continued into the room. To her surprise, and disappointment, she didn't see the Once-ler anywhere at any of the tables. She set her food at her old table with Cassie, who was staring at the salt shaker.

"Hey Cassie." She began, but Cassie quickly put her hand in front of Stella's face.

"Shh! I think the salt moved!"

She closed her right eye, and then switched to her left eye and sat up in surprise. "It did it again!"

Stella put her head in her hands and sighed. "No Cassie, that's just switching eyes. It only seems to move because your eyes are in different places on your face, so they see the salt at a different perspective."

But Cassie just stared at Stella blankly. "What's a perspective?"

Stella forced a smile. "Nothing, I'm just saying funny words."

Cassie seemed amused. "That _is _a funny word! Purr-speck-tive!" She giggled and bounced in her chair. "Purr-speck-tive!"

Stella exhaled deeply and glanced over to where she and the Once-ler used to sit, but he wasn't there. The conversations with him were far less pointless than conversations with Cassie. But he lied to her about _everything_! She didn't even know who he was until she'd finally decided to look him up. How could she be so stupid and not see it before? Stella was snapped out of her daze when Cassie waved her hand in front of her face.

"Yello, Stella! What are you staring at?" She chided in her pippy tone.

Stella sighed and looked up slowly to see the Once-ler come into the cafeteria, turning his head the other way. She felt sick to her stomach.

"I gotta go." She said quickly and stood up without grabbing her tray. She ran to the opposite side of the room to the back exit that led to the courtyard. She threw herself onto a bench and put her fists to her head.

"Stupid!" She yelled through gritted teeth.

"Hey Stella."

Stella looked up catching the tears before they fell down her face. In front of her stood Chandler, dressed in his suit and tie with his hair slicked back as usual. Stella's first instinct was to run away, but she remembered that the Lorax had erased his memories of his plan to force his way to the mayor's seat. Chandler looked concerned and knelt in front of Stella.

"What is it Stella? Does that Robert guy have anything to do with this?"

_Yes._ "No. It's just the stress from the campaign I guess."

Chandler smiled softly and caressed Stella's cheek with his thumb. She didn't object. She closed her eyes and leaned into his palm. But as soon as her eyes shut, an image of the Once-ler's face flashed in her mind. Her eyes flew open and she jerked upward, pulling her face out of Chandler's hand. Chandler didn't look startled though. He just pat her hands, which were resting on her lap.

"We could get back together you know. And I could hang out with you more this time and wait for engagement when you feel best. I wont force it on you this time."

Chandler's eyes were pleading and Stella couldn't be with the Once-ler. She didn't want to beat herself up about his betrayal anymore, maybe a relationship would help her forget. She smiled.

"Ok Chandler."

He smiled. "Ok. I've got to get back to work now, and I'm pretty sure you do too."

He helped her up and kissed her cheek before walking back to the building. Stella stood there for a moment before following him.

The Once-ler stood in front of the cafeteria doors, hesitating before opening them. Before Ted had visited him, he had always wondered, if he hadn't been so caught up in his fortune during his youth, could he have fallen in love? He'd been too immature to think about it back then, and then he was given a second chance by his friend and blew it. He might as well leave and go back to his house outside of Thneedville. He sighed and pushed open the door. He immediately saw Stella on his right and quickly looked the other way, not sure if she was glaring at him or not. He slopped food onto his plate, not bothering to see what it was, and turned to his empty table, empty of Stella. He looked up to where she was, but she was gone. Only a confused looking girl squinting at the salt shaker sat. Movement caught his eye near the back door caught his eye. He looked up to see Chandler darting out the door. Curious, the Once-ler followed him. He went around the front to sneak up on Chandler without getting caught. He got to the corner at the back of the building and peered around the side. Chandler was on his knees in front of a girl on a bench. His head was in the way of her face, and Once-ler couldn't tell who it was. He angled his head to get a glimpse at the girl. They both stood up, and Chandler turned to leave when Once-ler saw the girl's face. Stella. His knees gave and he crumpled to the ground. He pressed his back against the brick wall and sat there, trying to fight tears.

[I honestly have no excuse for putting this off. I just kept putting it off and putting it off until I decided to check my email one day and saw fanfiction. I'm really sorry I haven't been on this story all the time, and I hope I can give it a good finish that will satisfy you guys! :) I'm glad some of you like it!]


	10. Chapter 10

The Once-ler sat at the Wiggin's table, rolling his peas around with his fork. Ted and Audrey insisted he come back over to stay so that people wouldn't find in weird that he was going out of town a lot. Well, the real reason was because they worried about him and wanted to keep him company. Granny Norma had finished her steak, after tearing at it with her false teeth, when she noticed Once-ler's behavior.

"Once-ler? You're not eating?"

Once-ler shrugged. "I'm not really that hungry." He mumbled.

"Well you have to!" She said dropping her spoon on her plate. "You've gotta eat for the campaign, you're skinny enough already."

He faked a smile. "Yeah, you've got a point." He forced himself to eat his food, until the plate was empty.

After dinner, the Lorax followed the Once-ler to his room.

"Do you think it's possible to go back in time? Not just make someone younger, but reverse time?" The Once-ler asked from his sitting position on his bed when the Lorax stepped into the room.

The Lorax shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I don't get _that _kind of power."

"Oh." The Once-ler mumbled. After a few moments of silence, he lay his head on his pillow. "Get out Lorax, I'm going to bed."

The Lorax did as he was told and shut the door quietly behind him. He never thought he could see the Once-ler like this, almost as if he was a zombie. He clenched his fists.

"That's it. I can't stand seeing beanpole so down." He said to himself in the hallway. He marched down the stairs and crossed the street to Stella's house. Her lights were on, she was home.

He stood on her door mat and knocked on the door with an orange fuzzy fist.

It didn't take long for Stella to open the door. She was wearing a light blue robe over her pink pjs and her hair was pulled up into a messy bun. She didn't see the Lorax because of his height, so she stared across the street in confusion.

"Down here!" The Lorax said impatiently.

Stella looked down and glared at the Lorax. "what do you want?"

The Lorax rolled his eyes. "Oh, so you we perfectly pleasant earlier, but then you see me, and suddenly get angry."

She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. "Well, have you ever wondered _why_ I'm all of a sudden mean to you and-." She stopped and faked a cough.

The Lorax opened his mouth to retort, but closed it. He took a deep breath. "I know why, and you have every reason to think that way. But it was all in good reason. What do you think people would do if he just walked up and said, 'hey, I'm the Once-ler'?"

Stella scoffed. "But why didn't he tell me when we became friends? And why did you help him lie? Are you trying to take over the city so he can re-live the glory days?"

"No! I was against him for that! Me and the forest animals were the _only _ones against him."

"Oh so you're all of a sudden friends now for some reason."

"We were friends before it happened. I'm pretty sure I was his only friend. His _family_ turned him down the wrong path for crying out loud!"

Stella sighed and bent down to The Lorax's level. "I'm just not sure about it Lorax. Why was he so eager to jump into the mayor's seat?"

The Lorax paused. He didn't really have a better answer than 'because the town needed a mayor'. That's what Stella and Chandler could do.

"Exactly." Stella said standing back up. "I wish I knew that he was really good this time." She lifted her gaze to the night sky. "Believe me. More than anybody."

"But you could talk-"

Before the Lorax could finish, Stella had shut the door.

Hopeless, the Lorax turned and slowly walked back to the Wiggins' house.

The next day, Stella had the day off from work, so she just plopped onto the couch in front of the tv. After a while, she became bored with the commercial filled shows and walked across the street to Audrey's house. Stella was kind of lonely feeling, even going back with Chandler. Her knuckles met Audrey's door only a few times before Ted answered the door.

"Oh, hey Stella." He said waving. "Do you want to come in? Me, Audrey, Granny, and The Lorax are playing go-fish."

Stella shrugged. "Ok." But she felt a little uneasy about being around The Lorax.

She followed Ted to Audrey's dining table and sat in the chair furthest from the Lorax. Granny Norma dealt the cards.

Before the game had even started, Audrey turned to Stella and asked, "Are you and Robert still going out? You guys haven't been hanging around each other for the last few days."

Stella tried to keep her face from twitching, and faked a laugh. "No! We were never going out. We just hung out and now that the campaign is getting closer, we can't be best buds right?"

Audrey didn't seem convinced. "Yeah. Are you going to get back with him afterwards though? You two seem really good together."

Stella struggled to keep her eyebrows from narrowing. _No, do you know who he really is?!_ "Um,"

Ted's eyes widened as he stared at Stella. He opened his mouth to speak, but the Lorax slapped his hand over it.

"Yes, she found out." He hissed in Ted's ear.

"Oh." Ted said quietly before slumping back in his chair.

Audrey seemed to have caught on. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"Wait, you knew about this?!" Stella hissed.

Audrey's eyes darted across the room before coming back to Stella's face. "Well, I kind of-"

"You knew, and you noticed how close we were getting, and you never told me?!"

"Well, I didn't really know how you would react! What's so bad about it anyway? He's good now."

Ted was the first one to speak calmly. "We trust him Stella. Why don't you?"

Stella set her cards back on the table. "I think I'm going to go home now."

And with that, she got up, and left.

Around lunch, Stella dressed in a simple white blouse tucked into a black pencil skirt with her hair pulled into a tight bun. She had decided to walk downtown and look around for a place to eat. She called the taxi, and couldn't help missing the Once-ler's conversation filled car pulls. She pressed her forehead to the window. _I have Chandler, but why do I still feel so lonely?_ She thought. Yeah, Chandler was bad a little, probably because he was mad about the breakup. But now that he was given a second chance at his relationship, he was striving to be better.

Stella sat up abruptly. The Once-ler was given a second chance at his entire adult life, so why would he be bad this time and ruin it?

"Driver! Turn around!"

Startled the driver jammed the steering wheel to the left, making a U turn on the road and driving back to Stella's house. She jumped out of the car as soon as the taxi pulled into the block, and ran straight to Ted's house, where the Once-ler was staying. Stella ran up to the front window that looked into the dining room, and her heart sank.

The Once-ler was there, but having lunch with a blond bombshell who's face was only inches away from the Once-ler's. Stella covered her mouth and tried to force back the tears. He had already moved on. She turned back to her house.

[Trust me, there is still a lot more story left to this ]


End file.
